


Fractured Memory

by animenutcase



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 12:50:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7715509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animenutcase/pseuds/animenutcase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had been given privacy, but Teeny was still telling her story to more than one person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fractured Memory

The girl standing before him was fidgeting uncomfortably, but she wasn't shaking like she would have been had this conversation happened when they first met.

_She'd been a lot smaller the last time I'd seen her. But then, she'd been little more than a newborn then._

"It must be hard, fighting your aunt." He broached the topic gently, but surprisingly she shook her head.  
"On the contrary." Her eyes narrowed and her voice filled with venom. "Hilda is a horrible, horrible woman."

The girl was normally very polite and seldom had a poor thing to say about anyone. It even took all of her nerve to bring herself to truly confront her uncle. For her to speak like that...

"She treated you badly, didn't she?" He said quietly, feeling _something_ in his heart clench when the girl nodded.  
"It was just constant beatings, day after day." She vented. "When it wasn't a beating, it was being denied food, or forced to stay awake all night... I don't remember her ever calling Mother by name. It was always just "traitor" or some other insult."

_The girl's mother... what was her name?_

He could see images of a woman with dark blue eyes and hair the color of lilacs. In one, her face was flushed as the snow fell around her. In another, she was wearing a white gown. Tears were falling from her eyes, but she was smiling happily as she extended her hand. In yet another, her clothes were gone and her hair was let down. She was writhing underneath someone, but she didn't appear to be in pain, or at least not much. She was saying something to the person on top of her. Was she asking them to say her name?

"Your mother..." He answered. "That would be Tailto."  
"Yes." The girl nodded. "My brother told me that after the Battle of Belhalla, Mother fled to Silesse with him and her husband. Shortly after that, they had me."

The girl looked down for a moment.

"I never knew my father." She said quietly. "I think he died a long time ago."

He noted that she wasn't wrong, but it wasn't long before images began to fill his mind once more. The woman, Tailto, was standing before him. Her face was red, but she seemed happy as she placed her hands on her stomach. As more images of Tailto flashed by, her stomach began to grow rounder. Soon, he saw an image of her clenching his hand tightly as she lay in bed. After that, there was a newborn baby in his arms, and for a moment, his vision went blurry, but he could see Tailto smiling at him.

The next memory wasn't of Tailto, but his mother, who was holding the infant in her arms as she walked away, looking worried. He suddenly found himself filled with unease as the next memory showed Tailto placing her hand on his cheek as she tried to reassure him, but it was clear that she wasn't entirely convinced by what she was saying. Soon, her body was pressed against his, and felt a strong sense of wanting to protect her from something. Suddenly, a man with white hair and glasses appeared to be shouting at them, and tears were running down Tailto's face.

After that, he saw another man burning alive and felt himself hit with terror and despair as the scent of the man's flesh hit him with a wave of nausea. Tailto was crying again, but she seemed to be shouting at him to run. The next memory had them back in Silesse, and he felt like the weight was going to crush him. Tailto embraced him, kissed him, and began to slowly undress. The last memories seemed happier: Tailto was smiling, and her hands were once again on her stomach. Soon, a midwife handed him a baby and he couldn't help but notice how small she was. Still, he felt like he wouldn't trade her for anything else.

_I know you! I held you in my arms when you were a baby! You're my-_

He forced his thoughts down as he continued to question the girl.

"And you went to Alster after that?"

The girl nodded once more.

"Unc-" The girl stopped herself and cleared her throat. "King Blume and his men came to Silesia one night when my brother was with our grandmother. Mother was still nursing me, so I was with her when it happened. They dragged us to Freege, and eventually we were taken to Alster. That was where Mother..."

She took a deep breath.

"That was where Mother died."

Two more memories began to flood his mind. Tailto and his mother were standing before him holding the two children. He kissed his mother on the cheek, his children on the forehead, and Tailto on the lips. He turned and began to walk away, and at last he remembered Tailto's voice.

_"We'll be waiting!"_

The second memory happened in the same place, but Tailto and the baby girl were gone. In their place was a woman with long, green hair. She slapped him and shouted at him, but it wasn't long before she collapsed into tears as his mother tried to comfort her. A man that he recognized as Father Claud of Edda knelt next to her and embraced her. He gently led her away as the whimpering toddler began to reach for him. He took the boy into his arms, but he wasn't sure why. Wasn't there something he did whenever he started crying? He could no longer remember.

"I..." He said slowly. "You've had a hard life, haven't you?"

The girl looked away for a moment.

"Hilda really it in for Mother." She explained. "Sometimes it seemed like she really hated her. At other times, it felt more like she tormented us just because she could. It wasn't normal either way. And I didn't even see all that she did to Mother."

He wasn't sure he wanted to hear more, but he gestured for her to continue.

_I want to kill her. I want to make her suffer._

"I can't remember a day when I didn't see Mother crying." The girl's voice begins to crack slightly. "She... really put up with a lot to keep me safe, right up until the end."  
"She... She did, did she?"

Every part of his body screamed at him to throw his arms around the girl and apologize for leaving her alone. Other parts wanted to hunt down Hilda and kill her himself. Still, he kept himself composed and did not move from where he was.

"Yes." The girl finally looked back at him and got a curious look on her face. "Lord Lewyn? Are you alright?"  
"Yeah. Why do you ask?"  
"Well..." The girl fidgeted again, unsure if she should tell him. "It sort of looks like you're... crying."

He brought his hand to his cheek and felt that it was indeed damp. The girl was still staring at him with concern in her eyes.

"It's... It's nothing." He said quietly. "It's just a bit of sweat. Nothing more. I'm... fine."

The girl's eyes widened slightly for a second, then narrowed suspiciously. She didn't seem convinced by his words, but nodded and walked away without any further protest.

He walked toward Seliph, who turned to him with a smile, only to frown when he saw his face.

"Did your talk with Teeny not go well?" He asked, looking around for the girl, no doubt to make sure she was alright.  
"There weren't any issues." He shook his head. "It's just a bit of sweat."  
"From your eyes." Seliph's frown deepened.  
"Yes." His tone left no room for argument. "And now I want to speak with you."

Seliph let the argument drop and told him he was listening.

"You love her, don't you?"

Seliph's face turned red, and he looked away with a shy look on his face, but he nodded.

"She was new and scared, and I thought it might help if she knew she had someone besides Arthur looking out for her, and Delmud was already looking out for Linda." He explained with a small chuckle. "I mean, Shanan was the closest thing I had to a brother growing up, since the only sibling I have is a half-brother I've never met and who I'm probably going to have to fight. I thought it might be... nice to have a little sister."

 _"Geez. You're almost like the little sister I never had or wanted."_  
_"You said the same thing to Sylvia."  
"Yes. Two little sisters after all these years of being an only child. What_ are _the odds?"_

"But as time went on, we were around each other almost all the time." Seliph continued. "I got to see just how resilient she really is. I started to really like her, but I didn't quite understand it until I was thinking about a conversation we had on the way to Manster. She said that Princess Ishtar was like a sister to her and one of the only people who ever really treated her right. That night, I was thinking about how I wanted to be one of the people who treated her right, but that I'd be more like a big brother than a big sister."

Seliph gave a small chuckle before falling silent.

"Then I realized that I didn't want to be like a big brother to her, either."

 _"Lord Brooooother!"_  
_"Seriously, you don't have to call me that. I was half-joking when I called you my little sister."_  
_"Y'sure? Maybe I could ask Queen Rahna to adopt me. I mean I... I probably won't be able to go home anymore."_  
_"...You don't need to go that far. You could just... You_ could _marry somebody here."_  
_"True. And it wouldn't be that hard for me to find a husband. After all, just_ look _at these healthy, child-bearing hips!"_  
_"You sound like an old man."_

"But I thought I should hold back until we took down the empire." Seliph said firmly. "I made sure our interactions were strictly platonic, even though we both knew how the other felt. But the night I got back to Kapathogia with Corpul and Sharlow, she came to my tent. She hugged me as tight as she could, and acted like she wanted to kiss. I tried to hold back, but I... couldn't."

He wasn't sure what sort of face he was making, but Seliph quickly began to reassure him that kissing and falling asleep together was _all_ they did.

"To be honest, when Nanna opened the tent the next morning to tell me she didn't know where Teeny was, I was afraid you and Arthur were **both** going to destroy the whole area." Seliph laughed weakly. "And I was half-afraid Oifey or Shanan was going to cut Teeny's head off."

 _"You're serious."_  
_"I have never been more serious in my life. You're loud, your laugh is obnoxious, and you're worse about pestering me to talk to my mother than Ferry is. I legitimately can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else."_  
_"Does Queen Rahna-"_  
_"She knows."_  
_"...If you're sure about this, then... I accept your proposal."_  
_"..."_  
_"..."_  
_"..."_  
_"...I must say, I'm surprised Queen Rahna gave her blessing. I was_ sure _she wanted you to marry Sigurd."_  
_"Very funny. But while we're on the subject of our parents, how angry is your father going to be about this?"_  
_"On one hand, I'm marrying a prince. On the other, I'm marrying the prince of the country harboring his scapegoat. I don't think he's going to be happy."_  
_"Define "not going to be happy"."_  
_"Mjölnir Unhappy."_  
_"...I have wind magic. I'll probably be fine."_  
_"You better be. The crown prince could hardly leave behind a widow who barely knows a thing about her husband's country."_  
_"Well, with any luck we'll have plenty of time for me to show you."_

"I know this might come as a surprise, but..." Seliph hesitated for a moment, but persisted. "Once we take back Chalphy, I'd... I'd kind of like to make it official. It wouldn't be anything big, just a small ceremony with the others. Teeny feels that way, too."  
"Once we take Chalphy, I doubt the villagers surrounding it will let it be just a small ceremony." He let himself smile for a second, but it faded just as quickly. "Not to mention that we're likely to be attacked by either Edda or Dozel once it happens."  
"Like I said, just a small, quick ceremony with the others in the army." Seliph looked at his feet in embarrassment. "We'd say our vows and that would be it. We're in the middle of a war. A wedding can wait until it's over, but if anything happens before then... I want us to be husband and wife when it does."

He continued staring at his feet, doubtlessly thinking of what happened to Sigurd and Empress Deirdre.

 _"I guess this is goodbye for now, squirt." Lewyn reached out to ruffle his son's hair. "Hopefully by the time I get back, the Grannvale Empire will have been stopped in its tracks."_  
_"And you have everything?" Queen Rahna asked. "You have the Forseti Tome with you?"_  
_"Right here." Lewyn held it up. "Take a good look, Arthur. This is gonna be yours one day. Hopefully not any time soon, though."_  
_"Don't jinx it." Tailto sighed. "I'm already worried that you're going to be going against the Valflame."_  
_"That's what we're here for, Tailto." Briggid spoke up. "It'll be a quick, quiet assassination."_  
_"Ferry, I'll be counting on you to look after Mother and Tailto until we get back."_  
_"Understood, Prince Lewyn." Ferry, who wasn't any happier about this plan than Tailto, nodded._

_Lewyn leaned down to kiss the infant in Tailto's arms._

_"Papa has to leave for a bit, Teeny, but he'll be back soon." He whispered. "I promise."_  
_"We'll be waiting!" Tailto declared as Lewyn turned to join Briggid, Claud, and Holyn._

He felt his heart clench in his throat.

_But... I never did._

He grabbed Seliph by the shoulders.

"Seliph, I want you to promise me something." He demanded.  
"S-Sure, Lewyn. Anything." Seliph seemed confused, but nodded.  
"Once this war is over, I won't be able to look out for that child anymore. I can't be her father."  
"And you... want me to look after Teeny." Seliph gave a quick nod. "Is that what you're asking?"

All he could do was nod as he tried to swallow the words that were threatening to flow out of him.

"I didn't keep the promise I made to her and her brother to return to them." He said lowly.

Seliph's expression turned to one of confusion as he glanced over at Arthur, who was speaking with Teeny several meters away, but he still nodded.

"Promise me you'll look after Teeny." His grip on Seliph's shoulders tightened. "Swear to me you'll love her. _Promise me_!"  
"I promise!" Seliph's reaction didn't seem to be out of pain, as he slowly raised his arms and wrapped them around his back. "I promise."

He only buried his face in Seliph's shoulder and sobbed as he returned the hug.

For a few moments, Forseti wasn't sure if he was truly in control.

**Author's Note:**

> The more I think about Forseti's possession of Lewyn, the creepier (and more depressing) it sounds to me. Your body gets revived at the cost of some dragon possessing it while only some of your memories remain. Your body isn't really yours anymore, and you could lose your memories of the people who matter the most to you. On the flip side, perhaps glimpses of the host body's personality will shine through. You could find yourself showing affection to people you've never seen before, and feel emotions that aren't yours. It's a pretty messed up situation for both the person possessed and the person possessing them.


End file.
